The proposed project attempts to develop and evaluate an effort to provide help to a growing population of distressed persons in modern societies: those undergoing marital divorce. A specially designed program of outreach crisis counseling will be offered to a first experimental group while a control group will be delayed 6 months on a waiting list (the control period) and then offered group counseling. A second experimental group will be offered outreach crisis counseling (as for group 1) but with additional group counseling designed to provide training in social skills associated with the objectives of the individual counseling. The 3 experimental groups will be chosen as random matched samples from a population that responds to public notices (announcing the availability of a counseling service for divorcees). To determine whether either or both counseling procedures are effective, outcomes will be compared using psychological tests, an intensive interview, peer reports, and certain public records (e.g. Social Service Clearing House). To standardize the counseling procedure without destroying essential flexibility, procedures of training and supervision will be used that have been developed during the past 2 1/2 years in several related investigations. The procedures of counseling have been drawn from the work of Lindemann, Caplan, and Hansell (crisis intervention), and borrowing also from Carl Rogers, gestalt therapy, and psychoanalysis among other approaches. The objectives for a given client go beyond mere resolution of the crisis. More importantly, goals involve the promotion of self awareness, self respect, and social skills, and thus address the issue of life style. The aim is not limited to a restoration of the pre-crisis state, but rather, entails utilization of the crisis as a strategic opportunity for promoting growth, i.e. improving social and personal skills. The results of this investigation should thus be relevant to both the counseling methodology and to the community mental health movement.